Episodes
We asked 100 James Bond fans...  Taking a break from our usual discussion format, we play Family Feud (or Family Fortunes, depending on where you're from) with two teams of Bond savants battling it out for the festive honours. Who can best guess the results of the top 100 answers from an MI6 survey? Play along and see how many you can get. Who will walk off with the star prize and who gets cold brussels sprouts? The recording took place on December 19th in the USA, UK, and Canada.  James Page...
Published 12/27/23
Published 12/27/23
What do we think of the new 007-themed reality show? In a drought of James Bond action, an oasis appeared on the horizon: an officially branded streaming series! 007: Road To A Million is the first (and only, according to Barbara Broccoli) venture into spin-off territory. Will the budget of Amazon Prime, the deep lore of the Bond series, and the savvy of experienced producers create something fans and casual viewers can enjoy alike? We ask the panel to find out - and if not - how the show...
Published 12/08/23
What has been going on with James Bond this summer? You wait around for news for months and then it all comes at once! We round up the latest developments on the 007 franchise with a new game, new books, new rumours on Bond 26, a 70th anniversary event for Casino Royale, and some continuation controversy. We round out with a discussion about the state of home media releases and whether or not we'll ever see a 4K Bluray boxset.  The recording took place on September 8th, 2023 in the USA and...
Published 09/09/23
What was the second draft of Timothy Dalton's unmade third film like? Timothy Dalton's third James Bond film is one of the great 'what ifs' of the series, and over the years various incarnations have come to light. In episode 0151, we covered the first attempt to pen Dalton's third in 1990. In this episode, we pick up the writing several months later when William Davies and William Osborne delivered the next version of the story in 1991. Several key elements were added including Bond facing...
Published 06/09/23
How many James Bond stories are out of circulation or out of reach? Mark Edlitz is the author of two books about James Bond, but it wasn’t his intention to write them both. The product of years of research and carefully selected interviews, these books tell the stories in the subjects’ own words. ‘The Many Lives Of James Bond’ talks to as many people who have developed, drawn, played or voiced James Bond, to better understand the character and the various portrayers’ interpretations of the...
Published 05/14/23
What was the very first draft of Timothy Dalton's unmade third film like? Timothy Dalton's third James Bond film is one of the great 'what ifs' of the series, and over the years various incarnations have come to light. Recently, we dusted off the first-ever draft of what could have been Dalton's follow-up to Licence To Kill. Dated July 7th, 1990, this rarely-seen script was penned by Michael G. Wilson and American writer Alfonse Ruggerio. Many of its elements would survive in later films for...
Published 03/25/23
Is the GoldenEye 007 re-release everything we hoped it would be? It's a time we thought we may never see: an official re-release of the revolutionary record-breaking James Bond videogame 'GoldenEye 007.' Originally published for the Nintendo 64 back in 1997, fans can now step back in time with a Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series S/X release that dropped on January 27th 2023. How did we get finally get here? What are the differences between the versions? Has the power of nostalgia papered over...
Published 02/02/23
How crazy were Sean Connery and Kevin McClory's script ideas back in 1978? Based on 'James Bond of the Secret Service' written in the 1950s, which would eventually become the novel 'Thunderball,' then a film of the same name, and years later even more script variations, 'Warhead' 1978 is the topic of this episode of our 'Unmade' season of episodes about James Bond films that never got filmed as intended. How much would survive in to the production that ultimately became 'Never Say Never...
Published 01/07/23
What treasures have we dragged out of the archive? Pull up a comfy chair in front of the fireplace, pour yourself a drink, and sit back and enjoy this 1987 production of The Living Daylights as we ring in the festive season and wish everyone a happy new year. Originally performed by The Rainbow Theatre in the UK for an audio cassette and read-along book, the story of the film is condensed to just 17 minutes. Who played James Bond? If you know - drop us a line. You can email the show at...
Published 12/24/22
What ideas were jettisoned from the script that ultimately became Spectre? The creative path on the 24th James Bond film had more twists and turns than perhaps any of the 007 productions before it, and due to a massive Sony Pictures leak, some of those debates, decisions, and debacles were exposed. We run through the early 2014 state of the film before the serious work was done on getting the script tightened up for filming (months behind schedule) and run through the later drafts scene by...
Published 11/26/22
How well was the 60th anniversary celebrated? We're back with our first regular episode in months (after wrapping the weekly 'Debrief' season) to share our thoughts on James Bond's cinematic 60th anniversary. We report from Christie's where there was an exclusive interview with producer Michael G. Wilson, review the 'Sound of 007' documentary and Royal Albert Hall concert, run through the box-office success of the UK cinema re-releases, and cast our eye over the plethora of merch. YouTube...
Published 10/28/22
In this mission debrief for NO TIME TO DIE, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  James Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. But when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA asks for help, he finds himself facing off...
Published 10/01/22
A couple of weeks ago, we were kindly invited by Ian Fleming Publications and Harper Collins to interview author Kim Sherwood on stage at the London book launch of 'Double Or Nothing.' Shortly before we went in front of the specially invited audience, we recorded this exclusive interview with Kim about her life with James Bond, how she landed the gig, what her approach to penning an expansion to the Double-O section was, and much, much more! James Bond is missing…007 has been captured,...
Published 09/27/22
In this mission debrief for SPECTRE, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra, the beautiful and forbidden widow of an...
Published 09/24/22
In this mission debrief for SKYFALL, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  James Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her, and Bond's own doubts about his life and livelihood start to creep in. As MI6 comes under attack and Bond...
Published 09/16/22
In this mission debrief for QUANTUM OF SOLACE, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  Agent 007 and M's interrogation of Mr White proves no one can be trusted on James Bond's newest action adventure, "Quantum of Solace". Fueled by the betrayal of Vesper,...
Published 09/09/22
In this mission debrief for CASINO ROYALE, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  James Bond's first "007" mission leads him to Le Chiffre, banker to the world's terrorists. In order to stop him, and bring down the terrorist network, Bond must beat Le...
Published 09/02/22
In this mission debrief for DIE ANOTHER DAY, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  When his top-secret mission is sabotaged, James Bond finds himself captured by the enemy, abandoned by MI6 and stripped of his 00-licence. Determined to get revenge, Bond...
Published 08/27/22
In this mission debrief for THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  When the suave Agent 007 is assigned to protect an oil heiress, he is catapulted into a passionate, adrenaline-charged adventure that pits him against one of his...
Published 08/20/22
In this mission debrief for TOMORROW NEVER DIES, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  A deranged media mogul is staging international incidents to pit the worlds' superpowers against each other. Now 007 must take on this evil mastermind in an...
Published 08/13/22
In this mission debrief for GOLDENEYE, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  Pierce Brosnan ignites the screen in his first adventure as the unstoppable James Bond. When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of a former ally-turned-enemy,...
Published 08/05/22
In this mission debrief for LICENCE TO KILL, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  James Bond takes on his most daring adventure ever when he turns renegade and goes head to head with one of the international drug cartel' most brutal and powerful...
Published 07/29/22
In this mission debrief for THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  Timothy Dalton is suave and lethal as superagent James Bond in this turbo-charged acting/adventure that pulls out the stops for excitement. Armed with a gadget-laden...
Published 07/22/22
In this mission debrief for A VIEW TO A KILL, we identify the iconic elements we would use to describe it as "the one with", shake the Bond cocktail and pick this film's most potent ingredients, toot the horn for underappreciated elements, round up our favourite trivia tidbits, and give our final top/middle/bottom rankings.  Agent 007 races against time to stop a power-mad industrialist who plots to kill millions in order to corner the world's microchip supply. From the Eiffel Tower to the...
Published 07/16/22